Got this in an email from a vet friend of mine:
"Tallahassee Democrat Dec. 6, 2003
Combat casualty count doubted
By Patrick Peterson
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
GULFPORT, Miss. - An influential Mississippi congressman has raised the possibility that the Pentagon has undercounted combat casualties in Iraq after he learned that five members of the Mississippi National Guard who were injured Sept. 12 by a booby trap in Iraq were denied Purple Heart medals.
The guardsmen were wounded by an artillery shell that detonated as their convoy passed the tree in which it was hidden, but their injuries were classified as "noncombat," according to Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Taylor, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, learned of the classification when he visited the most seriously injured of the guardsmen, Spc. Carl Sampson, 35, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington."
When the Congressman told a general at the Joint Chiefs about this, the soldiers were quickly awarded their medals, the article goes on to say. But the Congressman wonders how many more casualties have been reported as noncombat so that numbers can be juggled around. They say that the Defense Department says there have been over 2,000 casualties in Iraq, and that over 350 have been injured in non-combat incidents.
Here's the link to the whole article:
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/7427192.htm
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